This invention relates to stringed muscial instruments of the kind having a body and a neck, and deals more particularly with an improved construction of the neck of such an instrument and of the means for connecting the neck to the instrument body.
In the case of guitars, mandolins, banjos, basses, violins and similar instruments having necks and bodies, it is well-known that the force of the strings acting on the outer end of the neck tends to bend or warp the neck and thereby affects the spacing between the strings and the fingerboard, and various different expedients have been proposed in the past to compensate for or to counteract such bending. Some proposals involve making the neck of metal or other relatively stiff material so to minimize the bending influence of the string forces. These constructions are, however, usually relatively heavy and do not include any means for correcting whatever bending does occur. Other proposals involve the use of a tension rod in the neck which compressively loads the neck in such a way as to bend it in opposition to the bending influence of the strings. A common disadvantage of prior tension rod systems is, however, that the wood of the neck with which the tension rod cooperates is relatively compressible so that the nut on the tension rod has to be turned through a relatively large angle to produce an appreciable change in the bending of the neck. That is, the neck bending is relatively insensitive to the rotation of the adjustment nut and the range of bending available through adjustment of the nut is limited and very often not sufficient to meet the demand.
The connection between the neck and the body is also important since any weakness in this area will allow bending of the body relative to the neck, and this also affects the spacing of the strings relative to the fingerboard. A quality guitar, therefore, requires a sound, rigid and unyielding connection between the neck and the body.
Thus, the general object of this invention is to provide an instrument construction whereby the neck has a sturdy solid feel and is adjustable to counteract a wide range of bending influences imposed thereon. In particular, the object is to provide a guitar neck having a tension rod system wherein the neck is highly sensitive and responsive to changes in the angular position of the adjusting nut so that only a small rotation of the nut is required to produce an appreciable change in the bend of the neck and whereby the range of neck bending effected by adjustment of the nut is quite large so as to be able to counteract a similarly large range of natural bending influences.
A further object of this invention is to provide a neck construction of the foregoing character which also cooperates with the body of the instrument to provide a simply made yet sound unyielding connection between the body and the neck.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment.